During the POST the BIOS retrieves, from a CMOS memory, values that are used to initialise various devices within a computer system. The BIOS interrogates each device in turn to determine its register requirements. The BIOS retrieves values from the CMOS memory that are appropriate to the device. As a system administrator adds devices to or removes devices from the computer system, the parameters stored by the CMOS will have be changed accordingly. Conventionally, these changes are achieved using a CMOS or BIOS set up program. The BIOS set up is a set of procedures that enable a computer to be configured according to its resident hardware. It allows, amongst other things, the user to change the parameters with which the BIOS configures the chipsets, storage devices, memory configuration etc. The BIOS set up can be entered, when the computer system is powered on, by depressing a key during, or immediately before, the POST. The key varies according to computer system or BIOS manufacturer but, in some instances, can be the F2 key or the del key.
The BIOS set up provides a very basic user interface with very limited graphics capabilities via which the CMOS parameters can be varied. To exacerbate matters, there has been little standardisation of terminology between BIOS vendors and the many chipset and motherboard vendors. Furthermore, some parameters are defined by BIOS vendors, some by chipset designers and some by motherboard designers. Parameters intended for use in design and development are intermixed with parameters intended to be adjusted by technicians.
Still further, the very limited graphical user interface presented by the BIOS set up does not comply with, for example, US requirements for providing a user interface that can be used by the blind.
It is an object of the present invention at least to mitigate some of the problems of the prior art.